Computer applications, websites, or other electronic content including offers for products and services generally require a user to explicitly select and/or interact with one or more portions of the content being presented to generate a conversion (e.g., completion of a sale or purchase, submission of information to a content provider, causing delivery of additional information to the user or any other pre-defined response for the content). For example, an advertisement for a product or service can require the user to select the advertisement and navigate to the online store offering the product for sale. At the online store, the user can then enter information to purchase or obtain additional information regarding the product or service.
In many types of electronic content maintained by content providers, the portions of the content offering products and services are generally not static. Rather, such (primary) content providers may offer portions, directly or via an agent, for use by one or more other (secondary) content providers. Thus, these portions can vary over time, depending on the arrangement between the primary and secondary content providers.
Typically, content from secondary content providers, such as advertisements, are presented and priced based on some type of arrangement between the primary and secondary content providers. For example, a secondary content provider may pay up front for a number of impressions (i.e., presentations of their advertisement) during a period of time. In another example, the secondary content provider may only pay for the number of times an impression results in a conversion.
Such models are generally based on the premise that advertisements and similar content are effective for generating interest in a product or service only if a conversion results. Unfortunately, consumer behavior can be unpredictable and accordingly a consumer may walk away prior to a conversion. This can occur for any number of reasons, including reasons unrelated to the advertisement. Thus, the existing metrics for determining the effectiveness of electronic campaigns may not accurately reflect the amount of actual interest in the product or service.